Bob Hunter commentary: Peyton Manning's legacy is secure, win or lose

Sunday

Feb 2, 2014 at 12:01 AMFeb 2, 2014 at 1:12 PM

Peyton Manning is 37 years old and only two years removed from serious neck surgery, so today's Super Bowl apparently arrives in just the nick of time. The way a lot of people tell it, the poor old guy finally has a chance to secure his legacy before he goes to his football grave.

Bob Hunter, The Columbus Dispatch

Peyton Manning is 37 years old and only two years removed from serious neck surgery, so today’s Super Bowl apparently arrives in just the nick of time. The way a lot of people tell it, the poor old guy finally has a chance to secure his legacy before he goes to his football grave.

For those who have somehow missed these discussions — and anyone who watches today’s pregame marathon TV gabfest on Fox will be able to catch up quickly — the storyline goes something like this:

If Manning leads the Denver Broncos over the Seattle Seahawks today in Super Bowl XLVIII, he will become the first quarterback to take two franchises to titles, and that will finally blot out all the black marks on his record.

Don’t fret if you’re having trouble remembering those black marks; the media is always here to remind you: Manning has only won Super Bowl title. One. His career record in playoff games is 11-11.

It might not seem like much in the face of all of the evidence to the contrary, but good storylines are storylines. Two Super Bowl rings, and with different franchises, apparently will prove that Manning is worthy of being in all the discussions about history’s greatest quarterbacks.

The absurdity of this should be readily apparent: Manning has passed for 64,964 yards and 491 touchdowns, both second in NFL history only to Brett Favre. He is the only player to win the NFL MVP award more than three times — he won his fifth yesterday — and has been a Pro Bowl selection 13 times, most ever for a quarterback.

He will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer and will be considered by many as the best quarterback ever — but if he can’t beat the Seahawks, well, he might have missed his chance to secure his legacy.

Better pull up a chair. This is a moment not to missed.

“This legacy question keeps popping up, and I guess I had a little more time to think about it,” Manning said last week. “If I had my choice, my legacy would be that I played my butt off for every team that I ever played on, I was a really good teammate and I did everything I could to win.”

He said he never set a goal for Super Bowl rings, which makes sense. As important as the quarterback is, teams win Super Bowls. Terry Bradshaw has won four, in part because he was a heck of a quarterback but mostly because the Pittsburgh Steelers teams he played for were great teams. A second Super Bowl victory would tie Manning with Bob Griese and Jim Plunkett. So?

Favre won one. So did Trent Dilfer and Mark Rypien. Does anyone think those three guys are all on the same talent level?

Manning has taken teams to the playoffs 13 times. Last season, if a Broncos defensive back hadn’t fallen down on a Hail Mary pass from Joe Flacco, Denver would have defeated Baltimore and Manning might have won his second Super Bowl then. Instead, Flacco and the Ravens won. See how this works?

Fox analyst Jimmy Johnson, with two Super Bowl rings as coach of the Dallas Cowboys, put it this way: “Peyton already is one of the greatest that’s ever played. That said, the more rings you have, the more credibility you have.”

Credibility with whom?

Manning has credibility. He has the wins. He has the stats. He has the career. But this is Super Bowl week. There has to be a story, and Manning, maybe the best quarterback in NFL history or maybe not, was bound to be it.

Just about everybody watches the Super Bowl. That means casual watchers — those more into the buffalo dip their host is serving than whether Manning’s quick hitters will work against the tough Seattle defense — outnumber the armchair quarterbacks among us. So having a quarterback with Manning’s fame makes for an-easy-to-comprehend storyline, even if there’s not much substance to it.

Manning will always be considered one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, win or lose today.